Canon’s enthusiast DSLR is back and more video-friendly

Remember when cameras were solely used for grabbing stills? Not so anymore, as video plays a bigger part, and that seems to be the focus with Canon’s newly announced 80D digital SLR.

Announced this week, the camera is an update of the Canon’s long running mid-range enthusiast series of cameras, providing access to a sensor half the size of a 35mm frame but with a body and design professionals and those in the “semi-pro” category prefer.

We’re not talking about your basic camera at all here, though there’s still an auto mode in case you feel like keeping things simple.

Rather, there’s a fast camera made to work with people who have a passion not just for photography, but videography too, as Canon updates the camera to grab images at a relatively high megapixel value, while also increasing video capture support with more ports and control.

Photographers who stick to static imagery will find 45 focus points to work with on a sensor capable of capturing 24.2 megapixels at a maximum of 7 frames per second.

For this camera, Canon is relying on its slightly older Digic 6 processor partly because any reason to use the Digic 7 in its compacts comes from lens stability, which is less of an issue when so many of Canon’s lenses have image stability (IS) built into them.

So Digic 6 it is, and you’ll find it works with a new metering sensor to pick up on visible and infrared light to provide better and more accurate exposures, while low-light image capture is provided up to ISO 25,600. Canon is even promising autofocus to work under moonlight.

Regardless of what setting you’re working in, you can expect a viewfinder capable of delivering 100 percent of the frame, while the “Intelligent Viewfinder” functionality of the camera displays your current settings, so you don’t have to move that eye from the eyepiece. Handy.

If you decide to, though, there’s a 3 inch vari-angle LCD for you to work with, offering touchscreen control and live view shooting.

Videographers are also being targeted by the Canon 80D because of a change in ports built into the body and a different autofocus technology.

On the port side of things, you’ll find separate plugs for microphone and headphones, which means sound monitoring is now a thing on the enthusiast range of Canon DSLRs, while HDMI support is also provided alongside USB.

Wireless functionality is also here, though that has more to do with stills.